Multivariate Testing for Web Shop Owners

In this modern age of the web, designing a website doesn’t have to rely on trial and error. Once the initial concept, building, and launching phase is done, there are tools you can use to tweak the design here are there to make sure your web shop is getting those much needed conversions. You may not have to spring for that expensive re-design afterall, if you discover small adjustments to the elements on your pages lead to conversions.

This is where multivariate testing comes into play. Multivariate testing allows you to test more than one element on a page at once to see which the visitor responds more favorably to. You may have also heard of this type of testing referred to as Taguchi testing, and you may even have seen it on other web analytics tools.

Capturing the Interest and Capturing the Clicks

Attention spans on the internet are extremely short – it’s suggested you capture the attention of visitor’s within 5 seconds of them entering your site, or risk page abandonment occurring.

Capturing visitor’s attention takes more than colorful text and bold graphics but a deep understanding of the demographic that frequents your web shop. Once you capture the audiences attention, you’ll want to work to pin it to your site for as long as possible.

This can be achieved through multivariate testing, which allows you the convenience of testing out a few elements at once for faster results. Elements like checkout buttons, product descriptions, headlines, and images can each be tested to measure which are the most effective.

Multivariate Testing and the Older Split Testing

The number of testing combinations gives multivariate testing an advantage over a/b testing, for instance. The speed with which you’ll be able to perform the test and receive results is another reason why so many seem to be turning to multivariate testing for their website optimization efforts.

Since A/B testing only allows for two elements to be tested at a time, you’ll have to take much more time to conduct the tests until you’ve reached all elements. You’ll be given more punctual results of which work the best, as well as more options through the use of multivariate testing. This is why this technique gives you more satisfactory results than older A/B testing techniques.

Why Choose Multivariate Testing

If you’re running a new e-commerce store and don’t have the traffic yet or feedback from visitors, multivariate testing is an imperative tool to use in determining what your site needs to improve. Newly competing sites in the market need feedback fast in order to gain traction in their respective niches, and multivariate testing provides the best combinations to make that a reality.

This guest post is contributed by Ruben Corbo, a freelance writer that writes about technology, gaming, music, and online marketing where you can read more about multivariate testing. You can read more about this particular subject at Maxymiser.com as well as traffic to sales converting topics.